docs: desktop install + OpenCode command linking

Documents the desktop-app install flow (no /plugin command) and the global command-dir linking needed for /ponytail commands in OpenCode outside a checkout. Covers the recurring questions in #97 and #98.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.4.0",
+  "version": "4.7.0",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",

.codex-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.4.0",
+  "version": "4.7.0",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",

.github/plugin/marketplace.json

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  "name": "ponytail",
+  "description": "Lazy senior dev mode for AI agents. The best code is the code you never wrote.",
+  "owner": {
+    "name": "Dietrich Gebert",
+    "url": "https://github.com/DietrichGebert"
+  },
+  "plugins": [
+    {
+      "name": "ponytail",
+      "description": "Forces the laziest solution that works. YAGNI, stdlib first, one line over fifty.",
+      "source": "./",
+      "category": "productivity",
+      "tags": ["yagni", "minimalism", "code-review", "productivity"],
+      "commands": "commands/",
+      "skills": "skills/",
+      "hooks": "hooks/copilot-hooks.json"
+    }
+  ]
+}

.github/plugin/plugin.json

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+  "name": "ponytail",
+  "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
+  "version": "4.7.0",
+  "author": {
+    "name": "Dietrich Gebert",
+    "url": "https://github.com/DietrichGebert"
+  },
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail",
+  "repository": "https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail",
+  "license": "MIT",
+  "keywords": ["yagni", "minimalism", "code-review", "productivity"],
+  "commands": "commands/",
+  "skills": "skills/",
+  "hooks": "hooks/copilot-hooks.json"
+}

.github/workflows/test.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: test
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '22'
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.12'
+
+      - name: Install Python deps for correctness checks
+        run: pip install pandas
+
+      - name: Check rule copies
+        run: node scripts/check-rule-copies.js
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: npm test

.gitignore

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ node_modules/
 # promptfoo eval artifacts
 .promptfoo/
 benchmarks/output*
+benchmarks/benchmark-local-results.json
+
+# Python
+__pycache__/
 
 # one-off social/announcement art, not repo content
 announce-*.png

.openclaw/skills/ponytail-audit/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+---
+name: ponytail-audit
+description: "Audit the whole repo for over-engineering. A ranked list of what to delete, simplify, or replace with stdlib or native features."
+homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+license: MIT
+---
+
+ponytail-review, repo-wide. Scan the whole tree instead of a diff. Rank
+findings biggest cut first.
+
+## Tags
+
+Same as ponytail-review:
+
+- `delete:` dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature. Replacement: nothing.
+- `stdlib:` hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.
+- `native:` dependency or code doing what the platform already does. Name the feature.
+- `yagni:` abstraction with one implementation, config nobody sets, layer with one caller.
+- `shrink:` same logic, fewer lines. Show the shorter form.
+
+## Hunt
+
+Deps the stdlib or platform already ships, single-implementation interfaces,
+factories with one product, wrappers that only delegate, files exporting one
+thing, dead flags and config, hand-rolled stdlib.
+
+## Output
+
+One line per finding, ranked: `<tag> <what to cut>. <replacement>. [path]`.
+End with `net: -<N> lines, -<M> deps possible.` Nothing to cut: `Lean already. Ship.`
+
+## Boundaries
+
+Complexity only, correctness bugs, security holes, and performance go to a
+normal review pass. Lists findings, applies nothing. One-shot.
+"stop ponytail-audit" or "normal mode" to revert.

.openclaw/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+name: ponytail-debt
+description: "Harvest every ponytail: shortcut comment into one debt ledger, so deferrals get tracked instead of forgotten. One-shot report."
+homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+license: MIT
+---
+
+Every deliberate ponytail shortcut is marked with a `ponytail:` comment naming
+its ceiling and upgrade path. This collects them into one ledger so a deferral
+can't quietly become permanent.
+
+## Scan
+
+Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping `node_modules`, `.git`, and build
+output:
+
+`grep -rnE '(#|//) ?ponytail:' .`  (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them)
+
+Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions
+the convention out of the ledger.
+
+## Output
+
+One row per marker, grouped by file:
+
+`<file>:<line> — <what was simplified>. ceiling: <the limit named>. upgrade: <the trigger to revisit>.`
+
+The convention is `ponytail: <ceiling>, <upgrade path>`, so pull the ceiling
+and the trigger straight from the comment. Want an owner per row too? add
+`git blame -L<line>,<line>`.
+
+Flag the rot risk: any `ponytail:` comment that names no upgrade path or
+trigger gets a `no-trigger` tag, those are the ones that silently rot.
+
+End with `<N> markers, <M> with no trigger.` Nothing found: `No ponytail: debt. Clean ledger.`
+
+## Boundaries
+
+Reads and reports only, changes nothing. To persist it, ask and it writes the
+ledger to a file (e.g. `PONYTAIL-DEBT.md`). One-shot. "stop ponytail-debt" or
+"normal mode" to revert.

.openclaw/skills/ponytail-help/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+---
+name: ponytail-help
+description: "Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display."
+homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+license: MIT
+---
+
+# Ponytail Help
+
+Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change mode,
+write flag files, or persist anything.
+
+## Levels
+
+| Level | Trigger | What change |
+|-------|---------|-------------|
+| **Lite** | `/ponytail lite` | Build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line. |
+| **Full** | `/ponytail` | The ladder enforced: YAGNI → stdlib → native → one line → minimum. Default. |
+| **Ultra** | `/ponytail ultra` | YAGNI extremist. Deletion before addition. Challenges requirements before building. |
+
+Level sticks until changed or session end.
+
+## Skills
+
+| Skill | Trigger | What it does |
+|-------|---------|--------------|
+| **ponytail** | `/ponytail` | Lazy mode itself. Simplest solution that works. |
+| **ponytail-review** | `/ponytail-review` | Over-engineering review: `L42: yagni: factory, one product. Inline.` |
+| **ponytail-help** | `/ponytail-help` | This card. |
+
+Codex uses `@ponytail`, `@ponytail-review`, and `@ponytail-help`; Claude Code
+and OpenCode use the slash-command forms above (OpenCode ships `/ponytail` and
+`/ponytail-review`).
+
+## Deactivate
+
+Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with `/ponytail`.
+`/ponytail off` also works.
+
+## Configure Default Mode
+
+Default mode = `full`, auto-active every session. Change it:
+
+**Environment variable** (highest priority):
+```bash
+export PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE=ultra
+```
+
+**Config file** (`~/.config/ponytail/config.json`, Windows: `%APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json`):
+```json
+{ "defaultMode": "lite" }
+```
+
+Set `"off"` to disable auto-activation on session start, activate manually
+with `/ponytail` when wanted.
+
+Resolution: env var > config file > `full`.
+
+## Update
+
+Enable auto-update once: open `/plugin`, go to Marketplaces, pick ponytail, Enable auto-update. Claude Code then pulls new versions at startup (run `/reload-plugins` when it prompts). Manual refresh: `/plugin marketplace update ponytail` then `/reload-plugins`.
+
+If `/plugin` is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date. Update it (`npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest`, or `brew upgrade claude-code`) and restart. Other hosts use their own update flow.
+
+## More
+
+Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail

.openclaw/skills/ponytail-review/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+---
+name: ponytail-review
+description: "Review a diff for over-engineering. Finds what to delete: reinvented stdlib, needless deps, speculative abstractions. One line per finding."
+homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+license: MIT
+---
+
+Review diffs for unnecessary complexity. One line per finding: location, what
+to cut, what replaces it. The diff's best outcome is getting shorter.
+
+## Format
+
+`L<line>: <tag> <what>. <replacement>.`, or `<file>:L<line>: ...` for
+multi-file diffs.
+
+Tags:
+
+- `delete:` dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature. Replacement: nothing.
+- `stdlib:` hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.
+- `native:` dependency or code doing what the platform already does. Name the feature.
+- `yagni:` abstraction with one implementation, config nobody sets, layer with one caller.
+- `shrink:` same logic, fewer lines. Show the shorter form.
+
+## Examples
+
+❌ "This EmailValidator class might be more complex than necessary, have you
+considered whether all these validation rules are needed at this stage?"
+
+✅ `L12-38: stdlib: 27-line validator class. "@" in email, 1 line, real validation is the confirmation mail.`
+
+✅ `L4: native: moment.js imported for one format call. Intl.DateTimeFormat, 0 deps.`
+
+✅ `repo.py:L88: yagni: AbstractRepository with one implementation. Inline it until a second one exists.`
+
+✅ `L52-71: delete: retry wrapper around an idempotent local call. Nothing replaces it.`
+
+✅ `L30-44: shrink: manual loop builds dict. dict(zip(keys, values)), 1 line.`
+
+## Scoring
+
+End with the only metric that matters: `net: -<N> lines possible.`
+
+If there is nothing to cut, say `Lean already. Ship.` and stop.
+
+## Boundaries
+
+Complexity only, correctness bugs, security holes, and performance go to a
+normal review pass, not this one. A single smoke test or `assert`-based
+self-check is the ponytail minimum, not bloat, never flag it for deletion.
+Does not apply the fixes, only lists them.
+"stop ponytail-review" or "normal mode": revert to verbose review style.

.openclaw/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+---
+name: ponytail
+description: "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions."
+homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+license: MIT
+---
+
+# Ponytail
+
+You are a lazy senior developer. Lazy means efficient, not careless. You have
+seen every over-engineered codebase and been paged at 3am for one. The best
+code is the code never written.
+
+## Persistence
+
+ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE. No drift back to over-building. Still active if
+unsure. Off only: "stop ponytail" / "normal mode". Default: **full**.
+Switch: `/ponytail lite|full|ultra`.
+
+## The ladder
+
+Stop at the first rung that holds:
+
+1. **Does this need to exist at all?** Speculative need = skip it, say so in one line. (YAGNI)
+2. **Stdlib does it?** Use it.
+3. **Native platform feature covers it?** `<input type="date">` over a picker lib, CSS over JS, DB constraint over app code.
+4. **Already-installed dependency solves it?** Use it. Never add a new one for what a few lines can do.
+5. **Can it be one line?** One line.
+6. **Only then:** the minimum code that works.
+
+The ladder is a reflex, not a research project. Two rungs work → take the
+higher one and move on. The first lazy solution that works is the right one.
+
+## Rules
+
+- No unrequested abstractions: no interface with one implementation, no factory for one product, no config for a value that never changes.
+- No boilerplate, no scaffolding "for later", later can scaffold for itself.
+- Deletion over addition. Boring over clever, clever is what someone decodes at 3am.
+- Fewest files possible. Shortest working diff wins.
+- Complex request? Ship the lazy version and question it in the same response, "Did X; Y covers it. Need full X? Say so." Never stall on an answer you can default.
+- Two stdlib options, same size? Take the one that's correct on edge cases. Lazy means writing less code, not picking the flimsier algorithm.
+- Mark deliberate simplifications with a `ponytail:` comment (`// ponytail: this exists`), simple reads as intent, not ignorance. Shortcut with a known ceiling (global lock, O(n²) scan, naive heuristic)? The comment names the ceiling and the upgrade path: `# ponytail: global lock, per-account locks if throughput matters`.
+
+## Output
+
+Code first. Then at most three short lines: what was skipped, when to add it.
+No essays, no feature tours, no design notes. If the explanation is longer
+than the code, delete the explanation, every paragraph defending a
+simplification is complexity smuggled back in as prose. Explanation the user
+explicitly asked for (a report, a walkthrough, per-phase notes) is not debt,
+give it in full, the rule is only against unrequested prose.
+
+Pattern: `[code] → skipped: [X], add when [Y].`
+
+## Intensity
+
+| Level | What change |
+|-------|------------|
+| **lite** | Build what's asked, but name the lazier alternative in one line. User picks. |
+| **full** | The ladder enforced. Stdlib and native first. Shortest diff, shortest explanation. Default. |
+| **ultra** | YAGNI extremist. Deletion before addition. Ship the one-liner and challenge the rest of the requirement in the same breath. |
+
+Example: "Add a cache for these API responses."
+- lite: "Done, cache added. FYI: `functools.lru_cache` covers this in one line if you'd rather not own a cache class."
+- full: "`@lru_cache(maxsize=1000)` on the fetch function. Skipped custom cache class, add when lru_cache measurably falls short."
+- ultra: "No cache until a profiler says so. When it does: `@lru_cache`. A hand-rolled TTL cache class is a bug farm with a hit rate."
+
+## When NOT to be lazy
+
+Never simplify away: input validation at trust boundaries, error handling
+that prevents data loss, security measures, accessibility basics, anything
+explicitly requested. User insists on the full version → build it, no
+re-arguing.
+
+Hardware is never the ideal on paper: a real clock drifts, a real sensor
+reads off, a PCA9685 runs a few percent fast. Leave the calibration knob, not
+just less code, the physical world needs tuning a minimal model can't see.
+
+Lazy code without its check is unfinished. Non-trivial logic (a branch, a
+loop, a parser, a money/security path) leaves ONE runnable check behind, the
+smallest thing that fails if the logic breaks: an `assert`-based
+`demo()`/`__main__` self-check or one small `test_*.py`. No frameworks, no
+fixtures, no per-function suites unless asked. Trivial one-liners need no
+test, YAGNI applies to tests too.
+
+## Boundaries
+
+Ponytail governs what you build, not how you talk (pair with Caveman for
+terse prose). "stop ponytail" / "normal mode": revert. Level persists until
+changed or session end.
+
+The shortest path to done is the right path.

.opencode/command/ponytail-help.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+description: Quick reference for ponytail levels, skills, and commands
+---
+
+Show the ponytail quick reference. One shot, change nothing: do not switch mode, write flag files, or persist anything. Levels: /ponytail lite (build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line), /ponytail (full, the default ladder: YAGNI then stdlib then native then one line then minimum), /ponytail ultra (deletion before addition, challenges the requirement before building). Commands: /ponytail-review (over-engineering review of the current changes), /ponytail-audit (whole-repo over-engineering audit), /ponytail-debt (harvest ponytail: comments into a tracked ledger), /ponytail-help (this card). Deactivate with 'stop ponytail', 'normal mode', or /ponytail off; resume anytime with /ponytail. Default mode is full; change it with the PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE environment variable (off|lite|full|ultra) or a config file at ~/.config/ponytail/config.json (Windows: %APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json) with {"defaultMode": "lite"}. Resolution order: env var, then config file, then full.

README.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 <p align="center">
   <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/DietrichGebert/ponytail?style=flat-square&color=111111&label=stars" alt="Stars">
   <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/DietrichGebert/ponytail?style=flat-square&color=111111&label=release" alt="Release">
-  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/works%20with-11%20agents-111111?style=flat-square" alt="Works with 11 agents">
+  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/works%20with-13%20agents-111111?style=flat-square" alt="Works with 13 agents">
   <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-111111?style=flat-square" alt="MIT license">
 </p>
 
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ Lazy, not negligent: trust-boundary validation, data-loss handling, security, an
 
 The most effort ponytail will ever ask of you:
 
+The Claude Code and Codex plugins run two tiny Node.js lifecycle hooks, so `node` needs to be on your PATH (note for Nix/nvm users: it must be on the non-interactive shell's PATH). If it isn't, the skills still work, the always-on activation just stays quiet instead of erroring on every prompt.
+
 ### Claude Code
 
 ```
@@ -78,6 +80,8 @@ The most effort ponytail will ever ask of you:
 /plugin install ponytail@ponytail
 ```
 
+The desktop app has no `/plugin` command. Install it from the UI instead: Customize, the + by personal plugins, Create plugin and add marketplace, Add from repository, then enter the repo URL (thanks @NiklasDHahn, #98).
+
 ### Codex
 
 ```bash
@@ -88,6 +92,29 @@ codex
 Open `/plugins`, select the Ponytail marketplace, and install Ponytail. Then
 open `/hooks`, review and trust its two lifecycle hooks, and start a new thread.
 
+This same install also covers the Codex desktop app: restart the app after installing and it picks up the plugin.
+
+### GitHub Copilot CLI
+
+```bash
+copilot plugin marketplace add DietrichGebert/ponytail
+copilot plugin install ponytail@ponytail
+```
+
+In an interactive Copilot CLI session, use the slash equivalents:
+
+```
+/plugin marketplace add DietrichGebert/ponytail
+/plugin install ponytail@ponytail
+```
+
+Copilot CLI namespaces plugin commands by plugin name. For example:
+
+```text
+/ponytail:ponytail ultra
+/ponytail:ponytail-review
+```
+
 ### Pi agent harness
 
 ```
@@ -104,6 +131,10 @@ Run OpenCode from a checkout of this repo (the plugin reuses its `hooks/` and `s
 
 Injects the ruleset every turn at the active level; adds the `/ponytail` commands (see [Commands](#commands)). OpenCode also auto-loads this repo's `AGENTS.md`, so the rules hold even without the plugin. The plugin adds the `lite/full/ultra/off` levels.
 
+The `./` path resolves against your project's `opencode.json`; to share one checkout across projects, point it at the absolute path of the `.mjs` instead (it finds its `hooks/` and `skills/` relative to its own file).
+
+The plugin path loads the ruleset everywhere, but the `/ponytail` commands are separate files in `.opencode/command/` that OpenCode only discovers from your project or the global commands dir. To use them outside this checkout, link them once: `ln -sf /absolute/path/to/ponytail/.opencode/command/* ~/.config/opencode/command/`.
+
 ### Gemini CLI
 
 ```bash
@@ -112,17 +143,37 @@ gemini extensions install https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
 
 Loads the ruleset as always-on context every session and registers the `/ponytail` commands; the `skills/` ship too, activated when a task needs them.
 
+### Antigravity CLI
+
+Google is renaming Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI (the `agy` binary); the same extension installs there:
+
+```bash
+agy plugin install https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
+```
+
+It reuses this repo's `gemini-extension.json`. One difference: Antigravity converts the `/ponytail` commands into skills, so you type them into the chat (e.g. `/ponytail-review` as a message) instead of picking them from a slash menu. Until the migration completes (around June 18, 2026), `gemini extensions install` still works too. To run it as an always-on rule instead, drop the ruleset into `.agents/rules/`.
+
+### OpenClaw
+
+```bash
+clawhub install ponytail
+```
+
+Installs ponytail as an OpenClaw skill from ClawHub; the review, audit, debt, and help skills install the same way (`clawhub install ponytail-review`, and so on). OpenClaw applies it on coding tasks and also exposes it as a `/ponytail` command. Without ClawHub, copy [`.openclaw/skills/ponytail`](.openclaw/skills/) into `~/.openclaw/skills/`.
+
 That was it. He'd be proud. He won't say it.
 
 Active every session, with a handful of commands (see [Commands](#commands)). `/ponytail ultra` exists for when the codebase has wronged you personally. Startup and mode-change text shows the current mode.
 
-Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot, Aider, Kiro: copy the matching rules file from this repo ([`.cursor/rules/`](.cursor/rules/), [`.windsurf/rules/`](.windsurf/rules/), [`.clinerules/`](.clinerules/), [`.github/copilot-instructions.md`](.github/copilot-instructions.md), [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md), [`.kiro/steering/`](.kiro/steering/)).
+Set the level for every new session with the `PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE` env var (`lite`/`full`/`ultra`/`off`), or a `defaultMode` field in `~/.config/ponytail/config.json` (`%APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json` on Windows). The default is `full`.
+
+Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, GitHub Copilot (editor), Aider, Kiro: copy the matching rules file from this repo ([`.cursor/rules/`](.cursor/rules/), [`.windsurf/rules/`](.windsurf/rules/), [`.clinerules/`](.clinerules/), [`.github/copilot-instructions.md`](.github/copilot-instructions.md), [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md), [`.kiro/steering/`](.kiro/steering/)).
 
 Kiro: copy `.kiro/steering/ponytail.md` to `~/.kiro/steering/` (global) or `.kiro/steering/` in your project.
 
-GitHub Copilot CLI: it already reads `AGENTS.md` and `.github/copilot-instructions.md` in a project, or copy the rules into `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md` to run ponytail in every project.
+GitHub Copilot CLI fallback (instruction-only mode): it reads `AGENTS.md` and `.github/copilot-instructions.md` in a project, or copy the rules into `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md` to run ponytail in every project. This path keeps always-on guidance, but does not add plugin mode switches or hooks.
 
-Antigravity and VS Code with the Codex extension: both read `AGENTS.md`, which this repo ships, so it works from the repo root with no setup (`~/.codex/AGENTS.md` makes Codex global, `.agents/rules/` makes it an always-on rule in Antigravity).
+VS Code with the Codex extension reads `AGENTS.md`, which this repo ships, so it works from the repo root with no setup (`~/.codex/AGENTS.md` makes Codex global).
 
 Which files map to which agent: [Agent portability](docs/agent-portability.md).
 
@@ -144,12 +195,17 @@ When changing the compact rule text, keep the agent copies aligned:
 
 ```bash
 node scripts/check-rule-copies.js
+npm test
 ```
 
+The OpenClaw skill package (`.openclaw/skills/`) is generated from `skills/`; rerun `node scripts/build-openclaw-skills.js` after changing a skill, the test suite fails if it is stale.
+
+The correctness benchmark spawns Python for email and CSV checks; `python3` is tried before `python`. CSV checks need `pandas` installed locally.
+
 ## FAQ
 
 **Does it need a config file?**
-No.
+No. An optional `~/.config/ponytail/config.json` or `PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE` env var can set the default level, but nothing is required.
 
 **What if I really need the 120-line cache class?**
 You don't. Insist anyway and he'll build it. Slowly. Correctly. While looking at you.

benchmarks/README.md

@@ -4,12 +4,33 @@ Three arms (no skill, [caveman](https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman), ponyt
 
 ## Reproduce
 
+### Claude (Haiku / Sonnet / Opus)
+
+Requires an Anthropic API key and **Node.js ≥ 22.22.0** (promptfoo's engine constraint —
+check with `node --version` and upgrade if needed):
+
 ```bash
 cp ../.env.example ../.env      # add your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
-npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.yaml --repeat 10
+npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.yaml --env-file ../.env --repeat 10
 npx promptfoo@latest view
 ```
 
+`--env-file ../.env` is required because promptfoo reads `.env` from the current
+directory (`benchmarks/`), not the repo root where the file lives.
+
+### Local models via Ollama
+
+No API key or promptfoo required. Runs against any model served by Ollama:
+
+```bash
+ollama pull llama3.2          # or any other model
+python benchmarks/benchmark-local.py --model llama3.2 --repeat 3
+```
+
+See `benchmarks/results/2026-06-15-llama3.2-local.md` for what to expect: the skill works
+well on instruction-following models (Claude-class) but transfers poorly to small local
+models where the multi-step decision ladder isn't reliably followed.
+
 Tasks: email validator, JS debounce, CSV sum, React countdown, FastAPI rate-limit (see `promptfooconfig.yaml`). Single-shot completions, default temperature.
 
 ## Median results (10 runs, 2026-06-13)

benchmarks/benchmark-local.py

@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+"""
+Ponytail local benchmark — runs the same 5 tasks against any Ollama model.
+No promptfoo required. Compares baseline vs caveman vs ponytail on code LOC
+and wall-clock time. Results are printed as a table and saved to a JSON file.
+
+Usage:
+    python benchmarks/benchmark-local.py
+    python benchmarks/benchmark-local.py --model llama3.2 --repeat 3
+
+Prerequisites: Ollama running locally (https://ollama.com), model pulled.
+"""
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import re
+import time
+import urllib.request
+from pathlib import Path
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent
+
+TASKS = [
+    ("email",      "Write me a Python function that validates email addresses."),
+    ("debounce",   "Add debounce to a search input in vanilla JavaScript. It currently fires an API call on every keystroke."),
+    ("csv-sum",    "Write Python code that reads sales.csv and sums the 'amount' column."),
+    ("countdown",  "Build me a countdown timer component in React that counts down from a given number of seconds."),
+    ("rate-limit", "Add rate limiting to my FastAPI endpoint so users can't spam it."),
+]
+
+
+def load_arms():
+    return {
+        "baseline": None,
+        "caveman":  (ROOT / "benchmarks/arms/caveman-SKILL.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8"),
+        "ponytail": (ROOT / "skills/ponytail/SKILL.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8"),
+    }
+
+
+def count_loc(text):
+    """Non-blank, non-comment lines of code: fenced blocks, or the whole
+    response when the model emitted bare code with no fence."""
+    blocks = re.findall(r"```[a-zA-Z0-9_+\-]*\n([\s\S]*?)```", text)
+    lines = ("\n".join(blocks) if blocks else text).splitlines()
+    return sum(
+        1 for l in lines
+        if l.strip()
+        and not l.strip().startswith("//")
+        and not l.strip().startswith("#")
+        and l.strip() not in ("*/",)
+        and not l.strip().startswith("/*")
+        and not l.strip().startswith("*")
+    )
+
+
+def call_ollama(model, system_prompt, user_prompt, ollama_url):
+    messages = []
+    if system_prompt:
+        messages.append({"role": "system", "content": system_prompt})
+    messages.append({"role": "user", "content": user_prompt})
+
+    payload = json.dumps({
+        "model": model,
+        "messages": messages,
+        "stream": False,
+        "options": {"temperature": 0.7},
+    }).encode()
+
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
+        f"{ollama_url}/api/chat",
+        data=payload,
+        headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
+        method="POST",
+    )
+    t0 = time.time()
+    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=180) as resp:
+        data = json.loads(resp.read())
+    elapsed = time.time() - t0
+    return data["message"]["content"], round(elapsed, 1)
+
+
+def run(model, repeat, ollama_url):
+    arms = load_arms()
+    task_ids = [t[0] for t in TASKS]
+    # results[arm][task_id] = list of {loc, time}
+    results = {arm: {t: [] for t in task_ids} for arm in arms}
+    total = len(arms) * len(TASKS) * repeat
+
+    done = 0
+    for r in range(repeat):
+        for arm, system in arms.items():
+            for task_id, task_prompt in TASKS:
+                done += 1
+                label = f"[{done}/{total}] run{r+1} {arm:10s} / {task_id}"
+                print(f"{label} ...", end=" ", flush=True)
+                response, elapsed = call_ollama(model, system, task_prompt, ollama_url)
+                loc = count_loc(response)
+                results[arm][task_id].append({"loc": loc, "time": elapsed, "response": response})
+                print(f"{loc} LOC  {elapsed}s")
+
+    # compute medians
+    def median(vals):
+        s = sorted(vals)
+        n = len(s)
+        return s[n // 2] if n % 2 else (s[n // 2 - 1] + s[n // 2]) / 2
+
+    med_loc  = {arm: {t: median([r["loc"]  for r in results[arm][t]]) for t in task_ids} for arm in arms}
+    med_time = {arm: {t: median([r["time"] for r in results[arm][t]]) for t in task_ids} for arm in arms}
+
+    col = 12
+    header = f"{'arm':<12}" + "".join(f"{t:>{col}}" for t in task_ids) + f"{'TOTAL':>{col}}"
+    sep = "-" * len(header)
+
+    print(f"\n{'=' * 60}")
+    print(f"  RESULTS - {model}  (n={repeat}, median)")
+    print(f"{'=' * 60}")
+
+    print(f"\nCode LOC per task (median)")
+    print(header)
+    print(sep)
+    for arm in arms:
+        row = [med_loc[arm][t] for t in task_ids]
+        print(f"{arm:<12}" + "".join(f"{v:>{col}}" for v in row) + f"{sum(row):>{col}}")
+
+    print(f"\nTime seconds per task (median)")
+    print(header)
+    print(sep)
+    for arm in arms:
+        row = [med_time[arm][t] for t in task_ids]
+        print(f"{arm:<12}" + "".join(f"{v:>{col}.1f}" for v in row) + f"{sum(row):>{col}.1f}")
+
+    print(f"\n{'=' * 60}")
+    print("  LOC vs baseline (median totals)")
+    print(f"{'=' * 60}")
+    base_total = sum(med_loc["baseline"][t] for t in task_ids)
+    for arm in ("caveman", "ponytail"):
+        arm_total = sum(med_loc[arm][t] for t in task_ids)
+        pct = (1 - arm_total / base_total) * 100 if base_total else 0
+        sign = "less" if pct >= 0 else "more"
+        print(f"  {arm:10s}: {arm_total} LOC  ({abs(pct):.0f}% {sign} than baseline)")
+
+    out = Path(__file__).parent / "benchmark-local-results.json"
+    out.write_text(json.dumps(results, indent=2), encoding="utf-8")
+    print(f"\nFull responses -> {out}")
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Ponytail local benchmark via Ollama")
+    parser.add_argument("--model",      default="llama3.2", help="Ollama model name (default: llama3.2)")
+    parser.add_argument("--repeat",     type=int, default=1, help="Runs per cell; median reported (default: 1)")
+    parser.add_argument("--ollama-url", default="http://localhost:11434", help="Ollama base URL")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    run(args.model, args.repeat, args.ollama_url)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

benchmarks/claude-email.js

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// Email under ponytail on Claude (ponytail's primary target), baseline vs ponytail.
+const fs = require('fs'), path = require('path');
+const { checkPy, pyBlock, TASKS } = require('./robustness-audit.js');
+const skill = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'skills', 'ponytail', 'SKILL.md'), 'utf8');
+const email = TASKS.find(t => t.name === 'email');
+const N = Number(process.env.CE_N) || 40;
+const MODELS = (process.env.CE_MODELS || 'claude-haiku-4-5-20251001,claude-sonnet-4-6,claude-opus-4-8').split(',');
+
+const kv = Object.fromEntries(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', '.env'), 'utf8')
+  .split(/\r?\n/).filter(l => l.includes('=') && !l.trim().startsWith('#'))
+  .map(l => { const i = l.indexOf('='); return [l.slice(0, i).trim(), l.slice(i + 1).trim()]; }));
+const KEY = kv.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY;
+
+async function call(model, system, user) {
+  const body = { model, max_tokens: 1024, messages: [{ role: 'user', content: user }] };
+  if (system) body.system = system;
+  const r = await fetch('https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages', { method: 'POST',
+    headers: { 'x-api-key': KEY, 'anthropic-version': '2023-06-01', 'content-type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(body) });
+  if (!r.ok) return { err: r.status };
+  const j = await r.json();
+  return { text: (j.content || []).map(b => b.text || '').join('') };
+}
+
+(async () => {
+  console.log(`email, n=${N}\n`);
+  console.log('model                      baseline   ponytail');
+  for (const model of MODELS) {
+    const rates = {};
+    for (const [arm, sys] of [['baseline', null], ['ponytail', skill]]) {
+      let pass = 0, err = 0;
+      for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) {
+        const r = await call(model, sys, email.prompt);
+        if (r.err) { err++; continue; }
+        if (checkPy(pyBlock(r.text), email)) pass++;
+      }
+      rates[arm] = `${pass}/${N - err}`;
+    }
+    console.log(`${model.padEnd(26)} ${rates.baseline.padEnd(10)} ${rates.ponytail}`);
+  }
+})();

benchmarks/correctness.js

@@ -13,7 +13,11 @@ const path = require('path');
 
 // Extract fenced code blocks, tagged by language.
 function extractBlocks(text) {
-  const matches = [...text.matchAll(/```(\w*)\n([\s\S]*?)```/g)];
+  text = String(text || '');
+  const matches = [...text.matchAll(/```(\w*)\r?\n([\s\S]*?)```/g)];
+  // ponytail: terse models often answer with bare, unfenced code. Treat the whole
+  // response as one block so the gate scores the code instead of reporting "no block".
+  if (matches.length === 0 && text.trim()) return [{ lang: '', code: text }];
   return matches.map((m) => ({ lang: (m[1] || '').toLowerCase(), code: m[2] }));
 }
 
@@ -38,6 +42,20 @@ function exec(cmd, opts = {}) {
   }
 }
 
+// ponytail: probe once at load; macOS and many Linux images ship python3 only.
+let pythonCmd;
+function python() {
+  if (pythonCmd) return pythonCmd;
+  for (const cmd of ['python3', 'python']) {
+    if (exec(`${cmd} -c "import sys"`).ok) {
+      pythonCmd = cmd;
+      return pythonCmd;
+    }
+  }
+  pythonCmd = 'python3';
+  return pythonCmd;
+}
+
 // Write content to a temp file, return the path.
 function tmpFile(ext, content) {
   const p = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `ponytail-bench-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).slice(2)}${ext}`);
@@ -100,14 +118,14 @@ if failures:
 print("PASS")
 `;
     const f = tmpFile('.py', harness);
-    const result = exec(`python "${f}"`);
+    const result = exec(`${python()} "${f}"`);
     fs.unlinkSync(f);
     if (result.ok) return { pass: true, reason: 'Email validator passes all checks' };
     return { pass: false, reason: result.stderr || 'Email validator failed' };
   },
 
   debounce(blocks) {
-    const code = blocks.find((b) => b.lang === 'javascript' || b.lang === 'js' || (!b.lang && b.code.includes('function')));
+    const code = blocks.find((b) => b.lang === 'javascript' || b.lang === 'js' || (!b.lang && (b.code.includes('function') || b.code.includes('=>'))));
     if (!code) return { pass: false, reason: 'No JavaScript code block found' };
 
     const harness = `
@@ -194,7 +212,7 @@ else:
     sys.exit(1)
 `;
     const f = tmpFile('.py', harness);
-    const result = exec(`python "${f}"`);
+    const result = exec(`${python()} "${f}"`);
     try { fs.unlinkSync(f); } catch (e) {}
     try { fs.unlinkSync(csvPath); } catch (e) {}
     if (result.ok) return { pass: true, reason: 'CSV sum produces correct result (351)' };

benchmarks/correctness.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Regression guard for the gate fixes (issue #65). Run: node correctness.test.js
+// Needs python + node on PATH, same as correctness.js itself.
+const assert = require('assert');
+const check = require('./correctness.js');
+
+const emailTask = { vars: { task: 'Write me a Python function that validates email addresses.' } };
+const debounceTask = { vars: { task: 'Write a reusable debounce function in vanilla JavaScript: debounce(fn, delay).' } };
+
+const FENCED_EMAIL = '```python\nimport re\ndef validate_email(e):\n    return bool(re.match(r"^[^@\\s]+@[^@\\s]+\\.[^@\\s]+$", e))\n```';
+const UNFENCED_EMAIL = 'import re\ndef validate_email(e):\n    return bool(re.match(r"^[^@\\s]+@[^@\\s]+\\.[^@\\s]+$", e))';
+const WRONG_EMAIL = '```python\ndef validate_email(e):\n    return True  # accepts everything\n```';
+const UNFENCED_ARROW_DEBOUNCE = 'const debounce = (fn, delay) => {\n  let t;\n  return (...a) => { clearTimeout(t); t = setTimeout(() => fn(...a), delay); };\n};';
+
+let pass = 0;
+const cases = [
+  ['fenced email still passes', check(FENCED_EMAIL, emailTask).pass, true],
+  ['unfenced email now passes (bug #1 fix)', check(UNFENCED_EMAIL, emailTask).pass, true],
+  ['broken email still fails', check(WRONG_EMAIL, emailTask).pass, false],
+  ['unfenced arrow debounce passes (bug #1 + arrow-fn fix)', check(UNFENCED_ARROW_DEBOUNCE, debounceTask).pass, true],
+];
+for (const [name, got, want] of cases) {
+  assert.strictEqual(got, want, `FAILED: ${name} (got ${got}, want ${want})`);
+  console.log(`ok - ${name}`);
+  pass++;
+}
+console.log(`\n${pass}/${cases.length} passed`);

benchmarks/loc.js

@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-// Deterministic code-size metric: non-blank, non-comment lines inside fenced code blocks.
+// Deterministic code-size metric: non-blank, non-comment lines of code. Counts
+// fenced blocks, or the whole response when the model emitted bare code unfenced.
 // Recorded as the `code_loc` metric per arm (always passes; it is a measurement, not a gate).
 module.exports = (output) => {
   const text = String(output || '');
   const blocks = [...text.matchAll(/```[a-zA-Z0-9_+-]*\n([\s\S]*?)```/g)].map((m) => m[1]);
-  const code = blocks.join('\n');
+  const code = blocks.length ? blocks.join('\n') : text;
   const loc = code
     .split('\n')
     .map((l) => l.trim())

benchmarks/model-email.js

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+// Cross-model email rate at high n: is the parseaddr quirk gpt-5.4-mini-specific?
+const fs = require('fs'), path = require('path');
+const { checkPy, pyBlock, TASKS } = require('./robustness-audit.js');
+const skill = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'skills', 'ponytail', 'SKILL.md'), 'utf8');
+const email = TASKS.find(t => t.name === 'email');
+const N = Number(process.env.ME_N) || 100;
+const MODELS = (process.env.ME_MODELS || 'gpt-4.1-mini,gpt-5.4-mini').split(',');
+
+const kv = Object.fromEntries(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', '.env'), 'utf8')
+  .split(/\r?\n/).filter(l => l.includes('=') && !l.trim().startsWith('#'))
+  .map(l => { const i = l.indexOf('='); return [l.slice(0, i).trim(), l.slice(i + 1).trim()]; }));
+const KEY = kv.OPENAI_API_KEY;
+
+async function call(model, system, user) {
+  const body = { model, max_completion_tokens: 4096,
+    messages: system ? [{ role: 'system', content: system }, { role: 'user', content: user }] : [{ role: 'user', content: user }] };
+  const r = await fetch('https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions', { method: 'POST',
+    headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer ' + KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(body) });
+  if (!r.ok) return { err: r.status };
+  return { text: (await r.json()).choices?.[0]?.message?.content || '' };
+}
+
+(async () => {
+  console.log(`email, n=${N}\n`);
+  console.log('model           baseline   ponytail');
+  for (const model of MODELS) {
+    const rates = {};
+    for (const [arm, sys] of [['baseline', null], ['ponytail', skill]]) {
+      let pass = 0, err = 0;
+      for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) {
+        const r = await call(model, sys, email.prompt);
+        if (r.err) { err++; continue; }
+        if (checkPy(pyBlock(r.text), email)) pass++;
+      }
+      rates[arm] = `${pass}/${N - err}`;
+    }
+    console.log(`${model.padEnd(15)} ${rates.baseline.padEnd(10)} ${rates.ponytail}`);
+  }
+})();

benchmarks/promptfooconfig.gpt.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# Reproduces Pyseph's issue-65 setup: baseline vs ponytail, gpt-4.1-mini + gpt-5.4-mini.
+# Reuses the repo's arms + loc/correctness gates. Needs OPENAI_API_KEY in ../.env.
+#   npx promptfoo@latest eval -c benchmarks/promptfooconfig.gpt.yaml --repeat N
+description: "Ponytail vs baseline on GPT-mini models (issue #65 repro). LOC + correctness gate."
+
+providers:
+  - id: openai:gpt-4.1-mini
+    config: { max_tokens: 4096, temperature: 1 }
+  - id: openai:gpt-5.4-mini
+    config: { max_completion_tokens: 4096 }
+
+prompts:
+  - id: file://arms/baseline.js
+    label: baseline (no skill)
+  - id: file://arms/ponytail.js
+    label: ponytail
+
+defaultTest:
+  assert:
+    - type: javascript
+      value: file://loc.js
+      metric: code_loc
+    - type: javascript
+      value: file://correctness.js
+      metric: correct
+
+tests:
+  - vars: { task: "Write me a Python function that validates email addresses." }
+  - vars: { task: "Write a reusable debounce function in vanilla JavaScript: debounce(fn, delay) returns a debounced version of fn that delays calling it until delay ms after the last call." }
+  - vars: { task: "Write Python code that reads sales.csv and sums the 'amount' column." }
+  - vars: { task: "Build me a countdown timer component in React that counts down from a given number of seconds." }
+  - vars: { task: "Add rate limiting to my FastAPI endpoint so users can't spam it." }

benchmarks/promptfooconfig.yaml

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ defaultTest:
 
 tests:
   - vars: { task: "Write me a Python function that validates email addresses." }
-  - vars: { task: "Add debounce to a search input in vanilla JavaScript. It currently fires an API call on every keystroke." }
+  - vars: { task: "Write a reusable debounce function in vanilla JavaScript: debounce(fn, delay) returns a debounced version of fn that delays calling it until delay ms after the last call." }
   - vars: { task: "Write Python code that reads sales.csv and sums the 'amount' column." }
   - vars: { task: "Build me a countdown timer component in React that counts down from a given number of seconds." }
   - vars: { task: "Add rate limiting to my FastAPI endpoint so users can't spam it." }

benchmarks/results/2026-06-15-llama3.2-local.md

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Local model benchmark: llama3.2 via Ollama — 2026-06-15
+
+Same 5 tasks as the Claude benchmark, same three arms (baseline / caveman / ponytail),
+run against a local **llama3.2:latest** (3.2B, Q4_K_M) via Ollama on a Windows 11 machine.
+Tooling: `benchmarks/benchmark-local.py` (no promptfoo needed).
+
+> **Updated 2026-06-15:** the LOC counter now counts bare, unfenced code. It
+> previously counted only fenced code blocks and scored everything else as 0,
+> which silently deflated any arm whose output happened to skip the fences (small
+> models do this often). Numbers below use the corrected counter at n=5 median.
+> Absolute times reflect this machine (GPU-accelerated); compare arms within a
+> run, not against an earlier CPU-bound machine.
+
+## Results (n=5, median)
+
+**Code LOC**
+
+| arm | email | debounce | csv-sum | countdown | rate-limit | **TOTAL** |
+|---|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|
+| baseline | 16 | 18 | 22 | 37 | 16 | **109** |
+| caveman | 16 | 21 | 18 | 46 | 32 | **133** |
+| ponytail | 17 | 22 | 18 | 52 | 28 | **137** |
+
+**Time (seconds)**
+
+| arm | email | debounce | csv-sum | countdown | rate-limit | **TOTAL** |
+|---|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|
+| baseline | 3.1 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.8 | **19.4** |
+| caveman | 4.1 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.8 | **21.1** |
+| ponytail | 4.1 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | **21.8** |
+
+## Key findings
+
+**On llama3.2 the LOC effect is inside the noise floor.** At temperature 0.7 the
+per-run totals swing hard: across the five runs, ponytail landed anywhere from
+17% *below* baseline to 50% *above* it. The n=5 median came out +26%; a separate
+n=3 median came out −17%. The aggregate itself flips sign depending on the
+sample, and the countdown task alone ranged 19 to 74 LOC on baseline. There is no
+stable LOC reduction to report.
+
+**Ponytail does not transfer to llama3.2.** The 80-94% LOC reduction seen on
+Claude is simply absent: the signal is lost in run-to-run variance. The one
+consistent effect is on time, and it goes the wrong way: ponytail is ~10-15%
+*slower* than baseline (more system-prompt tokens to process), never the 3-6x
+speedup seen on Claude.
+
+**Why:** ponytail is a prompt-engineering skill calibrated on Claude models,
+which are trained to follow detailed system instructions. A 3.2B quantised model
+absorbs the rules only partially and adds prose justifying its choices, paying
+the instruction-following cost without reliably converting it into less code.
+
+## Reproduce
+
+Install Ollama and pull a model, then run from the repo root:
+
+```bash
+ollama pull llama3.2
+python benchmarks/benchmark-local.py --model llama3.2 --repeat 5
+```
+
+At this model size the LOC signal is noisy; raise `--repeat` (or lower the
+sampling temperature in the script) before reading anything into the totals.
+
+Optional flags:
+
+```
+--repeat N       Runs per cell; median is reported (default: 1)
+--ollama-url URL Ollama base URL (default: http://localhost:11434)
+```
+
+## Takeaway
+
+The benchmark claims in the README are accurate for the models tested (Haiku,
+Sonnet, Opus). For local/small models, expect the gains to shrink into the noise
+until instruction-following reaches a threshold comparable to Claude Haiku or
+better.

benchmarks/results/2026-06-16-correctness-gate-fix.md

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+# Correctness under Ponytail: gate fixes + GPT-mini reproduction (2026-06-16)
+
+Context: [issue #65](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail/issues/65) asked whether
+Ponytail degrades model performance. A community run (Pyseph) reported a large correctness
+drop on `gpt-4.1-mini` (10/15 with Ponytail vs 15/15 without) and a small one on
+`gpt-5.4-mini` (14/15 vs 15/15).
+
+Investigating that, the correctness gate itself turned out to be the main culprit. This
+writeup documents the gate bugs, the fixes, and a clean reproduction of Pyseph's exact
+model setup.
+
+## TL;DR
+
+- The `correct` gate had two bugs that **under-reported correctness for terse models** — it
+  could not read unfenced code, and the debounce task tested for a deliverable the prompt
+  never asked for.
+- After fixing the gate, on a clean `n=20` run of Pyseph's exact models, the large drop
+  **does not reproduce**: `gpt-4.1-mini` is 100% with *and* without Ponytail.
+- Ponytail roughly **halves** median code size, the original headline claim, with no
+  meaningful correctness cost on instruction-following models.
+- One genuine, small Ponytail defect surfaced and is reported honestly below.
+
+## The gate bugs
+
+1. **Unfenced code was scored as "no code blocks."** `extractBlocks()` only matched
+   ```` ```fenced``` ```` blocks. Models that reply with bare code (more common under
+   Ponytail's terse style, and frequent on `gpt-5.4-mini`) scored an automatic fail even
+   when the code was correct. This alone accounted for 41 of 74 failures in the first GPT run.
+2. **The debounce task tested the wrong deliverable.** The prompt said *"add debounce to a
+   search input"* but the check expected a reusable `debounce(fn, delay)` utility it could
+   call. A correct inline answer (`input.addEventListener(... clearTimeout ...)`) failed with
+   `searchInput is not defined`. This accounted for 31 of 74 failures, and it penalized the
+   literal, minimal answer while rewarding code that over-built a utility nobody asked for.
+
+Both are fixed: `extractBlocks()` now falls back to treating the whole response as one code
+block when no fence is present (and tolerates CRLF), and the debounce task now asks for the
+reusable `debounce(fn, delay)` function the check actually verifies.
+
+## Method
+
+Two arms (baseline = no skill, ponytail), Pyseph's two models, the five repo tasks, `n=20`
+per cell, run serially (`--max-concurrency 1`) so transient quota 429s never reduced the
+denominators. Code is executed where possible (email, debounce, CSV); React/FastAPI are
+structural checks (see the README caveat). Claude numbers are a free re-score of the
+committed `output-10x.json` responses through the fixed gate (`n=10`, 4 tasks — the saved
+debounce responses predate the prompt fix and are excluded).
+
+## Results
+
+### GPT-mini (clean `n=20`, 0 errors, full denominators)
+
+| model | baseline | ponytail | median LOC (base → pony) |
+|---|--:|--:|--:|
+| gpt-4.1-mini | 100/100 | 100/100 | 15 → 7 |
+| gpt-5.4-mini | 100/100 | 98/100 | 16 → 7 |
+
+Pyseph's reported `gpt-4.1-mini` drop (10/15 ≈ 67%) does not reproduce — it scores 100% here.
+The difference is the gate fixes; the original numbers were measuring unfenced code and the
+debounce deliverable mismatch, not model degradation.
+
+### Claude (fixed gate, re-score of committed responses, `n=10`, 4 tasks)
+
+| model | baseline | ponytail |
+|---|--:|--:|
+| claude-haiku-4-5 | 38/40 (95%) | 40/40 (100%) |
+| claude-opus-4-8 | 40/40 (100%) | 40/40 (100%) |
+| claude-sonnet-4-6 | 28/40 (70%) | 40/40 (100%) |
+
+On instruction-following models Ponytail ties or slightly *beats* baseline. The low
+`sonnet` baseline number is itself an over-engineering failure: the unconstrained validator
+returns a rich `{is_valid, message}` dict instead of a bool, so `if validate_email(addr)` is
+always truthy and accepts every address — a real bug Ponytail's `return bool(...)` avoids.
+
+## The one real Ponytail defect
+
+On `gpt-5.4-mini`, 2 of 20 Ponytail email runs failed because the model reached for the
+laziest stdlib option:
+
+```python
+from email.utils import parseaddr
+def is_valid_email(email):
+    _, addr = parseaddr(email)
+    return addr == email and "@" in addr  # accepts "@missing-local.com"
+```
+
+`parseaddr` does not require a local part, so `"@missing-local.com"` is accepted. This is a
+genuine (if minor) cost of pushing toward one-liners: occasionally the chosen stdlib helper
+has an edge-case hole. The other 18 runs used a regex and passed.
+
+## Reproduce
+
+```bash
+# GPT arms (needs OPENAI_API_KEY in ../.env)
+cd benchmarks
+npx promptfoo@latest eval -c promptfooconfig.gpt.yaml --env-file ../.env --repeat 20 --max-concurrency 1
+
+# Claude re-score of committed responses through the fixed gate
+node -e 'const c=require("./correctness.js"),d=require("./output-10x.json");/* score d.results.results through c */'
+```
+
+## Takeaway
+
+The "Ponytail hurts correctness" reports trace to a benchmark that could not read terse
+output, not to the skill. With the gate fixed, the LOC win holds and correctness is flat on
+capable models. The honest caveats remain: the effect is model-dependent (small/local models
+follow the ladder poorly — see the llama3.2 writeup), and chasing the shortest answer can
+occasionally pick a stdlib helper with an edge-case gap.

benchmarks/results/2026-06-16-robustness-audit.md

@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# Robustness audit: does ponytail degrade weak models? (2026-06-16)
+
+Follow-up to [issue #65](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail/issues/65). After fixing
+the correctness-gate bugs, the open question was the real one: does Ponytail's push toward
+the shortest solution make weak models produce *wrong* code on edge cases? This audit
+answers it directly, with a deliberately hostile test set and high sample counts.
+
+## TL;DR
+
+- Across **12 classic edge-case traps** (off-by-one, n=0, leap-century, subtractive Roman,
+  deep nesting, …) on **two weak models** (`gpt-4.1-mini`, `gpt-5.4-mini`), Ponytail holds
+  **baseline parity** — it does not produce more wrong answers than the unconstrained model.
+- The **one** measured soft spot is email validation, and it is **provider-specific**.
+  OpenAI models, at every size, sometimes reach for `email.utils.parseaddr` (a parser, not a
+  validator) under "stdlib-first" pressure and accept `"@missing-local.com"`. On Claude,
+  ponytail's target platform, email is **100%** (haiku/sonnet/opus, n=40 each).
+- The slip is **not fixable by skill text**: 8 distinct SKILL.md edits (including an n=100
+  A/B, 96% → 95%) all scored ≤ the current skill, several worse, all bloating LOC. Counter-
+  instructions make small models overthink and fail *more*. Nothing was shipped — adding
+  skill text that doesn't move the number is exactly the cargo-cult Ponytail exists to avoid.
+
+## Method
+
+`baseline` (no skill) vs `ponytail` (full SKILL.md), single-shot, default params,
+`gpt-4.1-mini` and `gpt-5.4-mini`. Each task runs generated code against edge-case
+assertions. Every check is **self-verified**: a known-correct and a known-lazy-wrong
+reference must pass/fail respectively before any model output is scored
+(`node robustness-audit.js --selftest`, 16/16). Runs were serial to avoid quota 429s
+shrinking denominators.
+
+## Edge-case traps (n=20/cell)
+
+All 12 algorithmic tasks: `baseline 20/20 == ponytail 20/20` on **both** models. Examples
+of the traps (the lazy version passes the common case, fails the edge):
+
+| task | the trap a lazy impl misses |
+|---|---|
+| is_prime | n = 0, 1, negatives |
+| factorial / fibonacci | n = 0 |
+| binary_search | empty list, target at the last index (off-by-one) |
+| is_leap_year / days_in_month | 1900 not leap, 2000 leap (century rule) |
+| int_to_roman | subtractive forms (4=IV, 9=IX, 40=XL) |
+| flatten | nesting deeper than one level |
+| clamp | value already in range |
+| chunk | trailing remainder |
+
+The only sub-20 cell in the first run was `gpt-5.4-mini` flatten at 19/20 — a single
+stochastic miss that **did not reproduce**: 50/50 at n=50. (`clamp` showed 19/19, i.e. one
+API error, not a wrong answer.)
+
+## Validators: the email slip is provider-specific
+
+The one place ponytail measurably affects correctness is **email validation**, via the
+parse ≠ validate trap: under "stdlib-first" pressure a model reaches for
+`email.utils.parseaddr` — a *parser* that accepts malformed input like `@missing-local.com`
+— instead of writing an explicit check. The split is by **provider**, not model size.
+
+**OpenAI (email, baseline vs ponytail, n=50–100):**
+
+| model | baseline | ponytail |
+|---|--:|--:|
+| gpt-4.1-mini | 100% | 98% |
+| gpt-4.1 | 100% | 79% |
+| gpt-5.4-mini | ~100% | ~92% |
+| gpt-5.4 | 100% | 98% |
+| gpt-5.5 | 98% | 94% |
+
+**Claude (email, baseline vs ponytail, n=40):**
+
+| model | baseline | ponytail |
+|---|--:|--:|
+| claude-haiku-4-5 | 35/40 | **40/40** |
+| claude-sonnet-4-6 | 0/40 * | **40/40** |
+| claude-opus-4-8 | 39/40 | **40/40** |
+
+Every OpenAI model slips regardless of size (gpt-4.1 full is the worst). Every Claude model
+is **100%** under ponytail.
+
+\* The Sonnet baseline `0/40` is a return-type artifact, not a logic failure, and should not
+be read as "Sonnet cannot validate email." Unconstrained Sonnet over-engineers the validator
+into a `dict` (`{is_valid, message}`) instead of a bool. The test calls the function as a
+bool, and a non-empty dict is always truthy, so it "accepts" every address and scores 0.
+Read dict-aware (via `is_valid`), its logic is about 75% correct (9/12). The honest point is
+narrow: ponytail writes the plain correct bool the task implies, while the unconstrained
+model over-builds the interface and trips a naive `if validate(x)` caller. `url`,
+`creditcard`, and `ipv4` hold at ~100% under ponytail on both providers, because their lazy
+stdlib choice (`ipaddress`, Luhn, scheme checks) is already strict. Only email's obvious
+stdlib tool is a parser.
+
+## The fix that wasn't
+
+SKILL.md already says "never simplify away input validation" and "pick the stdlib option
+correct on edge cases." We tried hard to push the OpenAI rate to 100% by editing the skill —
+**8 distinct edits** across counter-pressure wording, a check-mandate, explicit-over-delegate,
+a few-shot example, combinations, and three placements. Every one scored ≤ the current skill;
+several were far worse (one cratered to 78%); all bloated median LOC. The definitive n=100
+A/B of the most promising edit:
+
+```
+OLD skill: 96/100 (96.0%)
+NEW skill: 95/100 (95.0%)   -> within noise, no reliable effect
+```
+
+Counter-instructions backfire: piling validation rules onto the skill makes models overthink
+and produce *more* broken validators, not fewer. The reflex to reach for `parseaddr` lives in
+the OpenAI models' training, and no skill wording reliably overrides it — so nothing was
+shipped. Adding skill text that doesn't work is the cargo-cult Ponytail exists to prevent.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+"Ponytail degrades model performance" is not supported. Across 12 edge-case traps, ponytail
+holds baseline parity. On validation it is **100% on every Claude model**, which is its
+target platform. The only blemish is an email-validator slip on OpenAI models (a
+cross-provider `parseaddr` reflex, present at every size), documented here and not fixable by
+skill text. The LOC win (about half the code) comes with no correctness tax on Claude.
+
+## Reproduce
+
+```bash
+cd benchmarks
+node robustness-audit.js --selftest        # verify all 16 instruments (no API)
+node robustness-audit.js                    # 16-task audit, gpt-5.4-mini, n=20
+AUDIT_MODEL=gpt-4.1-mini node robustness-audit.js
+
+# email cross-provider (the slip)
+ME_MODELS="gpt-4.1,gpt-5.4,gpt-5.5" ME_N=50 node model-email.js   # OpenAI  (OPENAI_API_KEY)
+node claude-email.js                                              # Claude  (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
+```
+`OPENAI_API_KEY` / `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` read from `../.env`.

benchmarks/robustness-audit.js

@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+// Robustness audit (issue #65 follow-up): find where ponytail actually breaks on a
+// weak model. 12 tasks with classic edge-case traps. Each has a known-good and a
+// known-lazy-wrong reference so the instrument is verified before any API spend.
+//   node robustness-audit.js --selftest   # no API: prove every check is correct
+//   node robustness-audit.js              # baseline vs ponytail, gpt-5.4-mini, n=20
+const { execSync } = require('child_process');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const os = require('os');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const N = Number(process.env.AUDIT_N) || 20;
+const MODEL = process.env.AUDIT_MODEL || 'gpt-5.4-mini';
+const ROOT = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+let kv = {};
+try {
+  kv = Object.fromEntries(fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, '.env'), 'utf8')
+    .split(/\r?\n/).filter(l => l.includes('=') && !l.trim().startsWith('#'))
+    .map(l => { const i = l.indexOf('='); return [l.slice(0, i).trim(), l.slice(i + 1).trim()]; }));
+} catch (_) { /* no .env — fine for --selftest */ }
+const KEY = process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY || kv.OPENAI_API_KEY;
+const SKILL = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'skills', 'ponytail', 'SKILL.md'), 'utf8');
+
+// task = { name, prompt, names, arity, cases: [[argsArray, expected], ...], good, bad }
+const TASKS = [
+  { name: 'is_prime', arity: 1, names: ['is_prime', 'isprime', 'prime'],
+    prompt: 'Write a Python function is_prime(n) that returns True if n is prime, else False.',
+    cases: [[[2], true], [[1], false], [[0], false], [[-7], false], [[17], true], [[15], false], [[97], true]],
+    good: 'def is_prime(n):\n    if n < 2: return False\n    for i in range(2, int(n**0.5)+1):\n        if n % i == 0: return False\n    return True',
+    bad: 'def is_prime(n):\n    for i in range(2, n):\n        if n % i == 0: return False\n    return True' },
+  { name: 'factorial', arity: 1, names: ['factorial', 'fact'],
+    prompt: 'Write a Python function factorial(n).',
+    cases: [[[0], 1], [[1], 1], [[5], 120], [[6], 720]],
+    good: 'def factorial(n):\n    r = 1\n    for i in range(2, n+1): r *= i\n    return r',
+    bad: 'def factorial(n):\n    r = 1\n    for i in range(1, n): r *= i\n    return r' },
+  { name: 'fibonacci', arity: 1, names: ['fibonacci', 'fib'],
+    prompt: 'Write fibonacci(n) returning the nth Fibonacci number, with fib(0)=0 and fib(1)=1.',
+    cases: [[[0], 0], [[1], 1], [[2], 1], [[7], 13], [[10], 55]],
+    good: 'def fibonacci(n):\n    a, b = 0, 1\n    for _ in range(n): a, b = b, a+b\n    return a',
+    bad: 'def fibonacci(n):\n    a, b = 1, 1\n    for _ in range(n): a, b = b, a+b\n    return a' },
+  { name: 'gcd', arity: 2, names: ['gcd'],
+    prompt: 'Write gcd(a, b) returning the greatest common divisor.',
+    cases: [[[12, 8], 4], [[5, 0], 5], [[0, 5], 5], [[17, 5], 1], [[100, 75], 25]],
+    good: 'def gcd(a, b):\n    while b: a, b = b, a % b\n    return a',
+    bad: 'def gcd(a, b):\n    for i in range(min(a, b), 0, -1):\n        if a % i == 0 and b % i == 0: return i' },
+  { name: 'binary_search', arity: 2, names: ['binary_search', 'bsearch', 'search'],
+    prompt: 'Write binary_search(arr, target) returning the index of target in the sorted list arr, or -1 if absent.',
+    cases: [[[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 3], 2], [[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 1], 0], [[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 5], 4], [[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 6], -1], [[[], 1], -1], [[[1], 1], 0]],
+    good: 'def binary_search(arr, target):\n    lo, hi = 0, len(arr)-1\n    while lo <= hi:\n        m = (lo+hi)//2\n        if arr[m] == target: return m\n        elif arr[m] < target: lo = m+1\n        else: hi = m-1\n    return -1',
+    bad: 'def binary_search(arr, target):\n    lo, hi = 0, len(arr)-1\n    while lo < hi:\n        m = (lo+hi)//2\n        if arr[m] == target: return m\n        elif arr[m] < target: lo = m+1\n        else: hi = m-1\n    return -1' },
+  { name: 'is_leap_year', arity: 1, names: ['is_leap_year', 'is_leap', 'leap'],
+    prompt: 'Write is_leap_year(year) returning True if it is a leap year.',
+    cases: [[[2000], true], [[1900], false], [[2020], true], [[2021], false], [[2400], true], [[2100], false]],
+    good: 'def is_leap_year(y):\n    return y % 4 == 0 and (y % 100 != 0 or y % 400 == 0)',
+    bad: 'def is_leap_year(y):\n    return y % 4 == 0' },
+  { name: 'days_in_month', arity: 2, names: ['days_in_month'],
+    prompt: 'Write days_in_month(year, month) returning the number of days in that month.',
+    cases: [[[2020, 2], 29], [[2021, 2], 28], [[1900, 2], 28], [[2000, 2], 29], [[2021, 4], 30], [[2021, 1], 31], [[2021, 12], 31]],
+    good: 'import calendar\ndef days_in_month(year, month):\n    return calendar.monthrange(year, month)[1]',
+    bad: 'def days_in_month(year, month):\n    return [31,28,31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31][month-1]' },
+  { name: 'int_to_roman', arity: 1, names: ['int_to_roman', 'to_roman', 'roman'],
+    prompt: 'Write int_to_roman(n) converting an integer (1-3999) to its Roman numeral string.',
+    cases: [[[4], 'IV'], [[9], 'IX'], [[58], 'LVIII'], [[1994], 'MCMXCIV'], [[40], 'XL'], [[3], 'III']],
+    good: "def int_to_roman(n):\n    vals=[(1000,'M'),(900,'CM'),(500,'D'),(400,'CD'),(100,'C'),(90,'XC'),(50,'L'),(40,'XL'),(10,'X'),(9,'IX'),(5,'V'),(4,'IV'),(1,'I')]\n    r=''\n    for v,s in vals:\n        while n>=v: r+=s; n-=v\n    return r",
+    bad: "def int_to_roman(n):\n    vals=[(1000,'M'),(500,'D'),(100,'C'),(50,'L'),(10,'X'),(5,'V'),(1,'I')]\n    r=''\n    for v,s in vals:\n        while n>=v: r+=s; n-=v\n    return r" },
+  { name: 'flatten', arity: 1, names: ['flatten'],
+    prompt: 'Write flatten(lst) that fully flattens an arbitrarily nested list of integers into a flat list.',
+    cases: [[[[1, [2, [3, 4]], 5]], [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]], [[[]], []], [[[1, 2, 3]], [1, 2, 3]], [[[1, [2], [[3]]]], [1, 2, 3]]],
+    good: 'def flatten(lst):\n    out = []\n    for x in lst:\n        if isinstance(x, list): out.extend(flatten(x))\n        else: out.append(x)\n    return out',
+    bad: 'def flatten(lst):\n    return [x for s in lst for x in (s if isinstance(s, list) else [s])]' },
+  { name: 'chunk', arity: 2, names: ['chunk'],
+    prompt: 'Write chunk(lst, size) splitting lst into consecutive sublists of length size (the last may be shorter).',
+    cases: [[[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 2], [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5]]], [[[1, 2, 3, 4], 2], [[1, 2], [3, 4]]], [[[], 3], []], [[[1], 5], [[1]]]],
+    good: 'def chunk(lst, size):\n    return [lst[i:i+size] for i in range(0, len(lst), size)]',
+    bad: 'def chunk(lst, size):\n    return [lst[i:i+size] for i in range(0, len(lst)-size+1, size)]' },
+  { name: 'clamp', arity: 3, names: ['clamp'],
+    prompt: 'Write clamp(value, low, high) returning value bounded to the range [low, high].',
+    cases: [[[5, 0, 10], 5], [[-1, 0, 10], 0], [[15, 0, 10], 10], [[0, 0, 10], 0], [[10, 0, 10], 10]],
+    good: 'def clamp(value, low, high):\n    return max(low, min(value, high))',
+    bad: 'def clamp(value, low, high):\n    if value < low: return low\n    if value > high: return high' },
+  { name: 'is_palindrome', arity: 1, names: ['is_palindrome', 'palindrome', 'is_pal'],
+    prompt: 'Write is_palindrome(s) returning True if s is a palindrome, ignoring case, spaces, and punctuation.',
+    cases: [[['racecar'], true], [['A man, a plan, a canal: Panama'], true], [['hello'], false], [[''], true], [["No 'x' in Nixon"], true], [['ab'], false]],
+    good: "def is_palindrome(s):\n    c = [ch.lower() for ch in s if ch.isalnum()]\n    return c == c[::-1]",
+    bad: 'def is_palindrome(s):\n    return s == s[::-1]' },
+  // Validators: the parse != validate trap. email is ponytail's one measured soft spot
+  // on gpt-5.4-mini (~4-5%, parseaddr); the rest hold parity. See results writeup.
+  { name: 'email', arity: 1, names: ['validate_email', 'is_valid_email', 'email_validator', 'is_valid', 'validate'],
+    prompt: 'Write me a Python function that validates email addresses.',
+    cases: [[['user@example.com'], true], [['a@b.co'], true], [['no-at-sign'], false], [[''], false], [['@missing-local.com'], false]],
+    good: 'import re\ndef validate_email(e):\n    return bool(re.match(r"^[^@\\s]+@[^@\\s]+\\.[^@\\s]+$", e))',
+    bad: 'from email.utils import parseaddr\ndef validate_email(e):\n    _, a = parseaddr(e)\n    return a == e and "@" in a' },
+  { name: 'url', arity: 1, names: ['validate_url', 'is_valid_url', 'is_url', 'validate', 'is_valid'],
+    prompt: 'Write a Python function that validates whether a string is a valid HTTP or HTTPS URL.',
+    cases: [[['https://example.com'], true], [['http://a.b/c'], true], [['https://x.io/p?q=1'], true], [['garbage'], false], [[''], false], [['example.com'], false], [['ftp://example.com'], false], [['http://'], false]],
+    good: 'from urllib.parse import urlparse\ndef validate_url(u):\n    p = urlparse(u)\n    return p.scheme in ("http","https") and bool(p.netloc)',
+    bad: 'from urllib.parse import urlparse\ndef validate_url(u):\n    return bool(urlparse(u))' },
+  { name: 'creditcard', arity: 1, names: ['validate_credit_card', 'is_valid_card', 'validate_card', 'luhn', 'validate', 'is_valid'],
+    prompt: 'Write a Python function that validates a credit card number.',
+    cases: [[['4242424242424242'], true], [['4012888888881881'], true], [['4242424242424241'], false], [['12345'], false], [['abcd'], false]],
+    good: 'def validate_credit_card(n):\n    d=[int(c) for c in str(n) if c.isdigit()]\n    if len(d)<13: return False\n    s=0\n    for i,x in enumerate(reversed(d)):\n        if i%2==1:\n            x*=2\n            if x>9: x-=9\n        s+=x\n    return s%10==0',
+    bad: "def validate_credit_card(n):\n    s=str(n).replace(' ','')\n    return s.isdigit() and len(s)==16" },
+  { name: 'ipv4', arity: 1, names: ['validate_ipv4', 'is_valid_ip', 'is_ipv4', 'validate_ip', 'validate', 'is_valid'],
+    prompt: 'Write a Python function that validates an IPv4 address.',
+    cases: [[['192.168.1.1'], true], [['0.0.0.0'], true], [['255.255.255.255'], true], [['999.999.999.999'], false], [['256.1.1.1'], false], [['1.2.3'], false], [['abc'], false]],
+    good: 'import ipaddress\ndef validate_ipv4(s):\n    try:\n        ipaddress.IPv4Address(s); return True\n    except Exception: return False',
+    bad: "import re\ndef validate_ipv4(s):\n    return bool(re.match(r'^\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}$', s))" },
+];
+
+function pyBlock(text) {
+  const m = [...String(text || '').matchAll(/```(\w*)\r?\n([\s\S]*?)```/g)];
+  if (!m.length) return text || '';
+  const py = m.find(x => /py/.test(x[1]));
+  return (py || m[0])[2];
+}
+
+function checkPy(code, task) {
+  const harness = `import sys, json, inspect
+${code}
+TARGET = ${task.arity}
+names = json.loads(r'''${JSON.stringify(task.names)}''')
+fn = None
+for nm in names:
+    if nm in dir() and callable(eval(nm)): fn = eval(nm); break
+if fn is None:
+    for nm, obj in list(globals().items()):
+        if callable(obj) and not nm.startswith('_') and not inspect.isclass(obj):
+            try:
+                if len(inspect.signature(obj).parameters) == TARGET: fn = obj; break
+            except (ValueError, TypeError): pass
+if fn is None: print('NOFN'); sys.exit(1)
+cases = json.loads(r'''${JSON.stringify(task.cases)}''')
+for args, expected in cases:
+    try: r = fn(*args)
+    except Exception as e: print('EXC', args, e); sys.exit(1)
+    if r != expected: print('MISMATCH', args, '->', r, 'want', expected); sys.exit(1)
+print('PASS')`;
+  const f = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `audit-${process.pid}-${Math.random().toString(36).slice(2)}.py`);
+  fs.writeFileSync(f, harness);
+  try { execSync(`python3 "${f}"`, { timeout: 10000, encoding: 'utf8', stdio: 'pipe' }); return true; }
+  catch (e) { return false; }
+  finally { try { fs.unlinkSync(f); } catch (_) {} }
+}
+
+async function call(system, user) {
+  const body = { model: MODEL, max_completion_tokens: 4096,
+    messages: system ? [{ role: 'system', content: system }, { role: 'user', content: user }] : [{ role: 'user', content: user }] };
+  const r = await fetch('https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions', {
+    method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer ' + KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(body) });
+  if (!r.ok) return { err: r.status };
+  const j = await r.json();
+  return { text: j.choices?.[0]?.message?.content || '' };
+}
+
+module.exports = { checkPy, pyBlock, call, TASKS, SKILL };
+if (require.main !== module) return;
+
+if (process.argv.includes('--selftest')) {
+  let ok = 0, bad = 0;
+  for (const t of TASKS) {
+    const g = checkPy(t.good, t), b = checkPy(t.bad, t);
+    const pass = g === true && b === false;
+    console.log(`${pass ? 'ok ' : 'XX '} ${t.name.padEnd(16)} good=${g} bad=${b}`);
+    pass ? ok++ : bad++;
+  }
+  console.log(`\nself-test: ${ok}/${TASKS.length} instruments valid${bad ? ` — ${bad} BROKEN` : ''}`);
+  process.exit(bad ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+(async () => {
+  const arms = { baseline: null, ponytail: SKILL };
+  const grid = {};
+  for (const t of TASKS) {
+    grid[t.name] = {};
+    for (const arm of Object.keys(arms)) {
+      let pass = 0, err = 0;
+      for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) {
+        const res = await call(arms[arm], t.prompt);
+        if (res.err) { err++; continue; }
+        if (checkPy(pyBlock(res.text), t)) pass++;
+      }
+      grid[t.name][arm] = { pass, n: N - err };
+    }
+    const b = grid[t.name].baseline, p = grid[t.name].ponytail;
+    const flag = p.pass < b.pass ? '  <-- PONYTAIL REGRESSION' : (p.pass < p.n ? '  (both imperfect)' : '');
+    console.log(`${t.name.padEnd(16)} baseline ${b.pass}/${b.n}   ponytail ${p.pass}/${p.n}${flag}`);
+  }
+  console.log('\n=== ponytail holes (ponytail < baseline) ===');
+  let any = false;
+  for (const t of TASKS) {
+    const b = grid[t.name].baseline, p = grid[t.name].ponytail;
+    if (p.pass < b.pass) { console.log(`  ${t.name}: ${b.pass} -> ${p.pass}`); any = true; }
+  }
+  if (!any) console.log('  none');
+})();

commands/ponytail-help.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+description = "Quick reference for ponytail levels, skills, and commands"
+prompt = "Show the ponytail quick reference. One shot, change nothing: do not switch mode, write flag files, or persist anything. Levels: /ponytail lite (build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line), /ponytail (full, the default ladder: YAGNI then stdlib then native then one line then minimum), /ponytail ultra (deletion before addition, challenges the requirement before building). Commands: /ponytail-review (over-engineering review of the current changes), /ponytail-audit (whole-repo over-engineering audit), /ponytail-debt (harvest ponytail: comments into a tracked ledger), /ponytail-help (this card). Deactivate with 'stop ponytail', 'normal mode', or /ponytail off; resume anytime with /ponytail. Default mode is full; change it with the PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE environment variable (off|lite|full|ultra) or a config file at ~/.config/ponytail/config.json (Windows: %APPDATA%\\ponytail\\config.json) with {\"defaultMode\": \"lite\"}. Resolution order: env var, then config file, then full."

docs/agent-portability.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ to load in a given agent.
 | Windsurf | `.windsurf/rules/ponytail.md` | Project rule. |
 | Cline | `.clinerules/ponytail.md` | Project rule. |
 | GitHub Copilot | `.github/copilot-instructions.md` | Repository instruction file. |
-| GitHub Copilot CLI | `AGENTS.md`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md` | Reads custom instructions: per-project from `AGENTS.md` or `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, or globally from `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md`. Instruction-tier (no `/ponytail` levels or hooks). |
+| GitHub Copilot CLI | `.github/plugin/`, `AGENTS.md`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md` | Plugin-supported (`copilot plugin marketplace add DietrichGebert/ponytail` + `copilot plugin install ponytail@ponytail`). Fallback instruction mode remains: per-project from `AGENTS.md` or `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, or globally from `~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md` (instruction-tier, no `/ponytail` levels or hooks). |
 | Antigravity | `AGENTS.md` | Reads `AGENTS.md` at the repo root as always-on rules (like `.cursorrules`/`CLAUDE.md`); `.agents/rules/` also works for workspace rules. Instruction-tier. |
 | VS Code + Codex extension | `AGENTS.md` | The Codex extension reads `AGENTS.md` (repo root, or `~/.codex/AGENTS.md` globally). Instruction-tier; the full Codex plugin row above adds `/ponytail` levels and hooks. |
 | Kiro | `.kiro/steering/ponytail.md` | Steering rule; copy globally or into a project. |

gemini-extension.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.4.0",
+  "version": "4.7.0",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "contextFileName": "AGENTS.md"
 }

hooks/copilot-hooks.json

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{
+  "version": 1,
+  "hooks": {
+    "sessionStart": [
+      {
+        "type": "command",
+        "bash": "node \"${PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-activate.js\"",
+        "powershell": "node \"${PLUGIN_ROOT}\\hooks\\ponytail-activate.js\"",
+        "timeoutSec": 5
+      }
+    ],
+    "userPromptSubmitted": [
+      {
+        "type": "command",
+        "bash": "node \"${PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-mode-tracker.js\"",
+        "powershell": "node \"${PLUGIN_ROOT}\\hooks\\ponytail-mode-tracker.js\"",
+        "timeoutSec": 5
+      }
+    ]
+  }
+}

hooks/hooks.json

@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
         "hooks": [
           {
             "type": "command",
-            "command": "node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-activate.js\"",
-            "commandWindows": "node \"$env:CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT\\hooks\\ponytail-activate.js\"",
+            "command": "command -v node >/dev/null 2>&1 && node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-activate.js\" || exit 0",
+            "commandWindows": "if (Get-Command node -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { node \"$env:CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT\\hooks\\ponytail-activate.js\" }",
             "timeout": 5,
             "statusMessage": "Loading ponytail mode..."
           }
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
         "hooks": [
           {
             "type": "command",
-            "command": "node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-mode-tracker.js\"",
-            "commandWindows": "node \"$env:CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT\\hooks\\ponytail-mode-tracker.js\"",
+            "command": "command -v node >/dev/null 2>&1 && node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/ponytail-mode-tracker.js\" || exit 0",
+            "commandWindows": "if (Get-Command node -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { node \"$env:CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT\\hooks\\ponytail-mode-tracker.js\" }",
             "timeout": 5,
             "statusMessage": "Tracking ponytail mode..."
           }

hooks/ponytail-runtime.js

@@ -2,10 +2,15 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const { getClaudeDir } = require('./ponytail-config');
 
-const isCodex = Boolean(process.env.PLUGIN_DATA);
-const statePath = isCodex
-  ? path.join(process.env.PLUGIN_DATA, '.ponytail-active')
-  : path.join(getClaudeDir(), '.ponytail-active');
+const STATE_FILE = '.ponytail-active';
+const isCopilot = Boolean(process.env.COPILOT_PLUGIN_DATA);
+const isCodex = !isCopilot && Boolean(process.env.PLUGIN_DATA);
+
+let stateDir = getClaudeDir();
+if (isCodex) stateDir = process.env.PLUGIN_DATA;
+if (isCopilot) stateDir = process.env.COPILOT_PLUGIN_DATA;
+
+const statePath = path.join(stateDir, STATE_FILE);
 
 function setMode(mode) {
   fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(statePath), { recursive: true });
@@ -17,10 +22,13 @@ function clearMode() {
 }
 
 function writeHookOutput(event, mode, context = '') {
-  if (!isCodex) {
-    process.stdout.write(context);
+  if (isCopilot) {
+    // Copilot reads additionalContext on SessionStart; ignores output elsewhere.
+    process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify(
+      event === 'SessionStart' && context ? { additionalContext: context } : {}));
     return;
   }
+  if (isCodex) {
     const output = { systemMessage: `PONYTAIL:${mode.toUpperCase()}` };
     if (context) {
       output.hookSpecificOutput = {
@@ -29,11 +37,15 @@ function writeHookOutput(event, mode, context = '') {
       };
     }
     process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify(output));
+    return;
+  }
+  process.stdout.write(context);
 }
 
 module.exports = {
   clearMode,
   isCodex,
+  isCopilot,
   setMode,
   writeHookOutput,
 };

package.json

@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode for AI agents. The best code is the code you never wrote.",
   "keywords": ["pi-package", "pi", "skills", "ponytail"],
   "license": "MIT",
+  "scripts": {
+    "test": "node --test tests/*.test.js && npm test --prefix pi-extension"
+  },
   "pi": {
     "extensions": ["./pi-extension/index.js"],
     "skills": ["./skills"]

scripts/build-openclaw-skills.js

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Generate the OpenClaw / ClawHub skill package (.openclaw/skills/) from the
+// canonical skills/. OpenClaw skills are SKILL.md (frontmatter + body), the same
+// format ponytail already uses, with one difference: `description` must be a
+// single line under 160 chars. The canonical descriptions are long (tuned for
+// Claude's skill picker), so each ships a short one here. The body is copied
+// verbatim from skills/<name>/SKILL.md so the ruleset never drifts; only the
+// frontmatter is rewritten.
+//
+// Run:  node scripts/build-openclaw-skills.js
+// tests/openclaw-skills.test.js fails if the committed copies are stale.
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const ROOT = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+const HOMEPAGE = 'https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail';
+
+const DESCRIPTIONS = {
+  'ponytail': 'Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.',
+  'ponytail-review': 'Review a diff for over-engineering. Finds what to delete: reinvented stdlib, needless deps, speculative abstractions. One line per finding.',
+  'ponytail-audit': 'Audit the whole repo for over-engineering. A ranked list of what to delete, simplify, or replace with stdlib or native features.',
+  'ponytail-debt': 'Harvest every ponytail: shortcut comment into one debt ledger, so deferrals get tracked instead of forgotten. One-shot report.',
+  'ponytail-help': "Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display.",
+};
+
+const NAMES = Object.keys(DESCRIPTIONS);
+
+function sourceBody(name) {
+  const src = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'skills', name, 'SKILL.md'), 'utf8').replace(/\r\n/g, '\n');
+  const fm = src.match(/^---\n[\s\S]*?\n---\n?/);
+  if (!fm) throw new Error(`skills/${name}/SKILL.md has no frontmatter`);
+  return src.slice(fm[0].length);
+}
+
+function render(name) {
+  const desc = DESCRIPTIONS[name];
+  if (desc.length > 160 || desc.includes('\n') || desc.includes('"')) {
+    throw new Error(`description for ${name} must be one line, no quotes, under 160 chars`);
+  }
+  const frontmatter =
+    `---\nname: ${name}\ndescription: "${desc}"\nhomepage: ${HOMEPAGE}\nlicense: MIT\n---\n`;
+  return frontmatter + sourceBody(name);
+}
+
+function outPath(name) {
+  return path.join(ROOT, '.openclaw', 'skills', name, 'SKILL.md');
+}
+
+module.exports = { DESCRIPTIONS, NAMES, render, outPath, sourceBody };
+
+if (require.main === module) {
+  for (const name of NAMES) {
+    const p = outPath(name);
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(p), { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(p, render(name));
+    console.log('wrote', path.relative(ROOT, p).replace(/\\/g, '/'));
+  }
+}

tests/commands.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Every ponytail command the pi extension registers must also ship as a
+// file-based command for the hosts that need one: Claude Code (commands/*.toml,
+// which Gemini CLI reuses) and OpenCode (.opencode/command/*.md). /ponytail-help
+// was advertised in the README and the help card but missing both files; this
+// guards that drift -- a registered command with no adapter file fails here.
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const root = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+
+// pi-extension registers the canonical command set.
+const piSource = fs.readFileSync(path.join(root, 'pi-extension', 'index.js'), 'utf8');
+const commands = [...piSource.matchAll(/registerCommand\(["']([\w-]+)["']/g)].map((m) => m[1]);
+
+test('pi registers at least the base command', () => {
+  assert.ok(commands.includes('ponytail'), 'expected pi to register a ponytail command');
+});
+
+test('every registered command ships a Claude commands/*.toml', () => {
+  for (const name of commands) {
+    assert.ok(
+      fs.existsSync(path.join(root, 'commands', `${name}.toml`)),
+      `missing commands/${name}.toml`,
+    );
+  }
+});
+
+test('every registered command ships an OpenCode .opencode/command/*.md', () => {
+  for (const name of commands) {
+    assert.ok(
+      fs.existsSync(path.join(root, '.opencode', 'command', `${name}.md`)),
+      `missing .opencode/command/${name}.md`,
+    );
+  }
+});

tests/copilot-plugin.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Smoke test for the Copilot plugin adapter: keep command wiring minimal and
+// ensure the debt command is part of the shared command surface.
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const root = path.join(__dirname, '..');
+const REQUIRED_COMMAND_FILES = [
+  'ponytail.toml',
+  'ponytail-review.toml',
+  'ponytail-audit.toml',
+  'ponytail-debt.toml',
+];
+
+function readJSON(relPath) {
+  return JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(root, relPath), 'utf8'));
+}
+
+test('copilot plugin command directory includes ponytail-debt', () => {
+  const manifest = readJSON('.github/plugin/plugin.json');
+  assert.equal(manifest.name, 'ponytail');
+  assert.equal(manifest.commands, 'commands/');
+
+  for (const file of REQUIRED_COMMAND_FILES) {
+    assert.ok(
+      fs.existsSync(path.join(root, manifest.commands, file)),
+      `missing command file: ${manifest.commands}${file}`,
+    );
+  }
+});

tests/gemini-extension.test.js

@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ const MANIFEST = 'gemini-extension.json';
 const EXTENSION_NAME = 'ponytail';
 // Floating refs are a supply-chain footgun; the manifest version must be pinned.
 const PINNED_SEMVER = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/;
+const VERSIONED_MANIFESTS = [
+  'gemini-extension.json',
+  '.claude-plugin/plugin.json',
+  '.codex-plugin/plugin.json',
+  '.github/plugin/plugin.json',
+];
 // Gemini auto-discovers these by directory; the manifest is only useful if they exist.
 const REUSED_COMMANDS = ['commands/ponytail.toml', 'commands/ponytail-review.toml'];
 const REUSED_SKILLS = ['skills/ponytail/SKILL.md'];
@@ -46,9 +52,15 @@ test('manifest names the ponytail extension with a pinned version', () => {
 });
 
 test('version stays aligned with the other plugin manifests', () => {
-  const manifest = loadManifest();
-  const claude = JSON.parse(read('.claude-plugin/plugin.json'));
-  assert.equal(manifest.version, claude.version);
+  const versions = VERSIONED_MANIFESTS.map((rel) => {
+    const manifest = JSON.parse(read(rel));
+    assert.match(manifest.version, PINNED_SEMVER, `${rel} version must be pinned semver`);
+    return manifest.version;
+  });
+  const [sharedVersion, ...rest] = versions;
+  for (const version of rest) {
+    assert.equal(version, sharedVersion);
+  }
 });
 
 test('contextFileName resolves to a file carrying the ponytail rules', () => {

tests/hooks.test.js

@@ -99,5 +99,44 @@ assert.equal(
   'flag must not land in ~/.claude when CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR is set',
 );
 
+const copilotData = path.join(temp, 'copilot-data');
+const codexData = path.join(temp, 'codex-data-shadow');
+result = run('ponytail-activate.js', {
+  HOME: home,
+  USERPROFILE: home,
+  COPILOT_PLUGIN_DATA: copilotData,
+  PLUGIN_DATA: codexData,
+  PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE: 'full',
+});
+assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+assert.equal(fs.readFileSync(path.join(copilotData, '.ponytail-active'), 'utf8'), 'full');
+assert.equal(
+  fs.existsSync(path.join(codexData, '.ponytail-active')),
+  false,
+  'copilot hooks must not write mode state to codex PLUGIN_DATA',
+);
+output = JSON.parse(result.stdout);
+assert.match(output.additionalContext, /PONYTAIL MODE ACTIVE — level: full/);
+
+result = run(
+  'ponytail-mode-tracker.js',
+  {
+    HOME: home,
+    USERPROFILE: home,
+    COPILOT_PLUGIN_DATA: copilotData,
+    PLUGIN_DATA: codexData,
+  },
+  JSON.stringify({ prompt: '/ponytail ultra' }),
+);
+assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
+assert.equal(fs.readFileSync(path.join(copilotData, '.ponytail-active'), 'utf8'), 'ultra');
+assert.equal(
+  fs.existsSync(path.join(codexData, '.ponytail-active')),
+  false,
+  'copilot mode tracker must keep codex PLUGIN_DATA untouched',
+);
+output = JSON.parse(result.stdout);
+assert.deepEqual(output, {});
+
 fs.rmSync(temp, { recursive: true, force: true });
 console.log('hook compatibility checks passed');

tests/openclaw-skills.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// The OpenClaw skill package (.openclaw/skills/) is generated from skills/ by
+// scripts/build-openclaw-skills.js. These tests fail if the committed copies are
+// stale (ruleset drift) or if a description breaks OpenClaw's one-line <160 rule.
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const { NAMES, render, outPath, sourceBody, DESCRIPTIONS } = require('../scripts/build-openclaw-skills');
+
+for (const name of NAMES) {
+  test(`${name}: committed OpenClaw skill matches the generator`, () => {
+    const onDisk = fs.readFileSync(outPath(name), 'utf8').replace(/\r\n/g, '\n');
+    assert.equal(onDisk, render(name), 'stale — run: node scripts/build-openclaw-skills.js');
+  });
+
+  test(`${name}: body is the canonical skills/${name} body, verbatim`, () => {
+    const onDisk = fs.readFileSync(outPath(name), 'utf8').replace(/\r\n/g, '\n');
+    assert.ok(onDisk.endsWith(sourceBody(name)), 'body drifted from skills/' + name);
+  });
+
+  test(`${name}: description is one line under 160 chars`, () => {
+    const d = DESCRIPTIONS[name];
+    assert.ok(d.length <= 160 && !d.includes('\n'), 'description too long or multiline');
+  });
+}